"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."-- Douglas Adams

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Final Destination (2000)

Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

I had originally planned to see this movie when it first came out, but
when I got to the theater, I found out that the listings in the paper
were wrong and the movie had been playing for a little while. I didn’t
get around to watching the movie until recently, when I rented the movie
from NetFlix.

It’s an interesting premise. Devon Sawa plays
Alex, a student on his way to France with a class trip. Somehow, he’s
allowed to see the plane crashing. He and several other people
(including two teachers) leave the plane. One teacher gets back on while
the other stays with the six students, agreeing to catch the next plane
out. As they’re arguing about what went on, the plane actually blows
up, as per Alex’s vision.

Understandably, Alex gets the
attention of the FBI, but since there’s no real evidence that Alex did
anything, they have to let him go. Of the other six people that he
saved, very few seem to be appreciative. The teacher is flat out scared
of him now. A friend of his wants to remain friends, but has parents
that aren’t as understanding. That’s a heck of a way to treat someone
who saved your life.

Over a month goes by without incident.
Then, the seven people start dying. Is there some sort of master plan?
Alex seems to think so. He notices certain coincidences, such as the
fact that the people are dying in the order that they would have had
they stayed on the plane. Then again, it’s possible that he’s reading
too much into it.

It wasn’t a great movie, but I wouldn’t
recommend avoiding it, either. It’s just one of those movies where there
are a lot of questions. For instance, why allow Alex to see Death’s
plan? Once that happened, why wait over a month to start killing the
people? Are we to believe that Death was bored? The thing is that before
the other survivors are killed, Alex is given new premonitions, meaning
that he’s being given the chance to save them again.

The
movie was a little slow to start, but I eventually got into it. I was
actually debating whether or not to just send it back without watching
it. I can’t say that it’s my favorite movie, but it was worth watching. I
have to admit that Tony Todd was perfectly cast as the mortician. Also,
I noticed that Devon Sawa bears some resemblance to Anthony Michael
Hall of The Dead Zone, another show where premonitions play a big part.
(Any resemblance is purely coincidental since the TV series had yet to
premiere when this movie was released.)

The movie is worth
three and a half stars, but I’m rounding up, mostly because it was just
an interesting movie. If you’re looking for something to watch and not
really think about too much, this is your movie. If you’re looking for
something with a little more substance, you might want to look
elsewhere. I’m actually debating over whether or not to get the sequel.